happened to the inhabitants of Jericho, and to those of Ai, and suspected that the like sore calasore mity would come as far as themselves, they did not think fit to ask for mercy of Joshua, for they supposed they should find little mercy from him who made war that he might entirely destroy the nation of the Canaanites. But they invited the people of Cephirah and Kiriathjearim, who were their neighbours, to join in the league with them, and told them, that neither could they themselves avoid the danger they were all in, if the Israelites should prevent them, and seize upon them: so when they had persuaded them, they resolved to endeavour to escape the forces of the Israelites. Accordingly upon their agreement to what they proposed, they sent ambassadors to Joshua, to make a league of friendship with him, and chose such of the citizens as were best approved of, and most capable of doing what was most advantageous to the multitude. Now these ambassadors thought it dangerous to confess themselves to be Canaanites, but thought they might avoid the danger by saying that they bare no relation to the Canaanites at all, but dwelt at a very great distance from them; and they said farther, that they came a long way on account of the reputation Joshua had gained for his virtue; and as a proof of the truth of what they said, they showed him the habit they were in, for that their clothes were new when they came out, but were greatly worn by the length of time they had been on their journey, for indeed they took torn garments, on purpose that they might make him believe so; so they stood in the midst of the people, and said, that they were sent by the people of Gibeon, and of the circumjacent cities, which were very remote from the land where they now were, to make such a league of friendship with them, and this on such conditions as were customary among their forefathers; for, when they understood that, by the

them? Nor did the Israelites, indeed, properly receive any damage from this imposture; for what does any one lose in not shedding the blood of another, when he has it in his power to take from him all his substance, after having so weakened and disarmed him that he is no more able to rebel against him?" But the opinion of this great man seems to be a little erroneous in this case. Had the Israelites indeed been a pack of common murderers, who, without any commission from Heaven, were carrying blood and desolation into countries where they had no right; or had the Gibeonites been ignorant that a miraculous Providence conducted these conquerors; the fraud which they here put upon them might then be deemed innocent. For there is no law that obliges us, under the pretence of sincerity, to submit to such incendiaries and merciless usurpers, as are for setting fire to our cities, and putting us and our families to the edge of the sword. But the case of the Gibeonites was particular; and if in other things they went contrary to truth, in this they certainly adhered to it, when they told Joshua, We

favour of God, and his gift to them, they were to have the possession of the land of Canaan bestowed upon them, they said they were very glad to hear it, and desired to be admitted into the number of their citizens. Thus did these ambassadors speak, and showing them the marks of their long journey, they entreated the Hebrews to make a league of friendship with them. Accordingly Joshua, believing that they were not of the nation of the Canaanites, entered into friendship with them, and Eleazar the high-priest, with the senate, sware to them, that they would esteem them their friends and associates, and would attempt nothing that should be unfair against them, the multitude also assenting to the oaths that were made to them; so these men having obtained what they desired by deceiving the Israelites, went home; but when Joshua led his army to the country at the bottom of the mountains of this part of Canaan, he understood that the Gibeonites dwelt not far from Jerusalem, and that they were of the stock of the Canaanites; so he sent for their governors, and reproached them with the cheat they had put upon him. But they alleged on their own behalf, that they had no other way to save themselves but that, and were therefore forced to have recourse to it. So he called for Eleazar the high-priest, and for the senate, who thought it right to make them public servants, that they might not break the oath they had made to them; and they ordained them to be so; and this was the method by which these men found security under the calamity that was ready to overtake them.*

But the king of Jerusalem took it to heart that the Gibeonites had gone over to Joshua; so he called upon the kings of the neighbouring nations to join together to make war against them. Now when the Gibeonites saw these kings, which were four, besides the king of Jerusalem, and perceived

are come, because of the name of the Lord thy God, for we have heard of the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, &c. Josh. ix. 9, 10. The idea which they had conceived of the God of Israel should have put them upon some other expedient than that of lying and deceit. They should have inquired (as far as the obscure dispensation they were under would have permitted them) into the cause of God's severity against them. They should have acknowledged, that it was their grievous sins which drew down this heavy judgment upon their nation; and after they had repented thereof in sackcloth and ashes, they should have committed the rest to Providence, never doubting but that he, who had changed the very course of nature to punish the guilty, would always find out some means or other to save the penitent; but this they did not do, and therefore they were culpable. Saurin, vol. 3. dissertation 4. B.

* Josh. ix. 27.

Josh. x. 11.

This miracle is thus related in holy writ: "Joshua said, in the sight of all Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou Moon in the valley of Ajalon; and the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves of their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hastened not to go down about a whole day; and there was no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel." (Josh. x. 12, &c.) Now, for the better understanding of these words, we must observe,

I. That nothing is more common in Scripture, than to express things, not according to the strict rules of philosophy, but according to their appearances, and the vulgar apprehension concerning them. The sun and moon, for instance, are called two great lights; (Gen. i. 16.) but however that title may agree with the sun, it is plain that the moon is but a small body, the least that has yet been discovered in the planetary system, and that it has no light at all, but what it borrows, and reflects from the rays of the sun; and yet, because it is placed near us, it appears to us larger than other heavenly luminaries, and from that appearance the holy Scriptures give it such an appellation.

And in like manner, because the sun seems to us to move, and the earth to be at rest, the Scriptures speak a great deal of the pillars, and basis, and foundations, of the earth, and of the sun's rejoicing, like a giant, to run its race, (Psalm xix. 5,) and of his arising, and going down, and hasting to the place where it arose, &c. (Eccles. i. 5.) Whereas it is certain, that if the sun were made to revolve round about the earth, the general law of nature would thereby be violated; the harmony and proportion of the heavenly bodies destroyed; and no small confusion and disorder brought into the fraine of the universe; but, on the contrary, if the earth turned upon its own axis every day, be made to go round the sun in the space of a year, it will then perform its circulation, according to the same law which the other planets observe; and, without the least exception, there will be a most beautiful order and harmony of motions everywhere preserved through the whole frame of nature. As therefore the Scriptures were designed to teach us the art of holy living, and not to instruct us in the rudiments of natural knowledge, it can be deemed no diminution either to their perfection, or divine authority, that they generally speak according to the common appearance of things, and not according to their reality or philosophic truth. The plain matter of fact is, that in the early ages, both before, and long after the days of Joshua, the most learned astronomers had no notion of the improvements which our modern professors have since attained to. They never once dreamed of the earth's rotation upon its own axis; but according to common appearance, were fully persuaded, that the sun and moon had their respective courses. Upon this supposition they formed their schemes, and thought themselves able to answer every phenomenon by them. And therefore, if God had prompted Joshua to desire the prolongation of the day in a manner more agreeable to our new astronomy, or to record

going up to the siege, and when he had discomfited them, he followed and pursued them down the descent of the hills. The place is called Bethhoron, where he also understood that God assisted him, which he declared by thunder and thunderbolts, as also by the falling of hail* larger than usual. Moreover it happened that the day was lengthened,† that the night might not come on too soon, and be an obstruction to the zeal of the He

the miracle in terms more suitable to it, this would have been a plain contrariety to all the rules of science then in use. The people who heard him utter the words, Earth, rest upon thy aris, would have thought him distracted, and those who read his account of what had happened, if related in suitable expressions, would have decried it as false in fact, or passed it by with contempt and disregard, as a wild fancy or blunder of his

own.

II. In relation to the places over which the two heavenly bodies were to stand, the sun over Gibeon and the moon over the valley Ajalon, we must observe, that (even upon the supposition of the sun's motion) the Jewish general cannot be thought to speak in a proper and philosophical sense. For since the sun is almost a million of times bigger than the earth, and 95 millions of miles distant from it, to justify the strict sense of the words, a line drawn from the centre of the sun to that of the earth, must exactly pass by Gibeon, which we know it cannot do, because no part of the Holy Land lies within the tropics; and therefore we must conclude, that Joshua here speaks according to the outward appearance of things, which makes the sense of his words plain and intelligible.

Wherever we are, (if so be we are not hindered by objects immediately surrounding us,) we can cast our eyes upon part of the surface of the earth, and at the same time take into our prospect some small extent of the firmament of heaven, which seems, as it were, to cover the other; and each celestial body which we perceive in this extent above, appears to us to be directly over such and such part of the earth, as we alternately turn our eyes to: and it is thus, that the sun, when Joshua spake, seemed to him, and to those that were with him, to be over Gibeon, and the moon to be over the valley of Ajalon. This valley, in all likelihood, took its name from some adjacent town; but then, as there are three Ajalons mentioned in Scripture, one in the tribe of Ephraim, (1 Chron. vi. 69,) another in Zabulon, (Judg. xii. 12,) and another in Dan, (Josh. xix. 42,) it is reasonable to think, that the place here spoken of was in Dan, the most remote province in Gibeon; for we must suppose that these two places were at some considerable distance, otherwise Joshua could not see the sun and moon both appear at the same time, as it is probable they were both in his eye, when be uttered these words.

III. In relation to the time when this miracle began, and how long it lasted, the Scripture's expression is, that the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day; which words can import no less, than that the sun stood still in the meridian, or much about noon, and that in this position it continued for the space of a civil or artificial day, i. e. for twelve hours. But Maimonides is of opinion, (More Nevoch. part 2, chap. 39,) and in this he is followed by some Christian writers, Grotius and Masius, in locum,) that there was no such cessation of the sun and moon's motion, but that the whole purport of the miracle was this:-"That God, at Joshua's request, granted him and his soldiers such a degree of spirits, activity, and dispatch, as enabled them to gain a complete victory, and as much execution in one day as might otherwise have

brews in pursuing their enemies, insomuch that Joshua took the kings, who were hidden in a certain cave at Makkedah, and put them to death. Now that the day was lengthened at this time, and was longer than ordinary, is expressed in the books laid up in the temple.

*

These kings, who made war with and were ready to fight the Gibeonites, being thus overthrown; Joshua returned again to the mountainous parts of Canaan. And when he made a great slaughter of the people there, and took their prey, he came to the camp at Gilgal. And now there went a great fame abroad among the neighbouring people of the courage of the Hebrews; and those that heard what a number of men were destroyed, were greatly affrighted at it. So the kings that lived about mount Libanus, who were Canaanites; and those Canaanites that dwelt in the plain country, with auxiliaries out of the land of the Philistines, pitched their camp at Beroth, a city of the Upper Galilee, not far from Cadesh; which is itself also a place in Galilee. The number of the whole army was three hundred thousand armed footmen, ten thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand chariots. So that the multitude of the enemies alarmed both Joshua himself, and the Israelites; and they, instead of being full of hope of success, were superstitiously timorous, with the great terror with which they were stricken. Whereupon God upbraided them with the fear they were in; and asked them, whether they desired a greater help than he could afford them? and promised them that they should overcome their enemies; withal charging them to make their enemies' horses useless, and to burn their chariots. So Joshua became full

taken up two:" but this is a construction so repugnant to the genuine sense of the words as to need no formal confutation.

There is something more, however, to be said to the notion of other learned men, who with regard to the time when Joshua might send up his request, and the miracle begin, think it more probable that he should pray for a longer day, when he perceived the sun just going to leave him, than when it was in its height. But Joshua, no doubt, had reasons for what he did. He was an old experienced general, eager for a complete victory, and able to compute what time it would take to achieve it; so that his fear of losing any part of the present advantage, might make him pray that the day might be thus prolonged, until he had obtained the whole. If the sun, in its declension, had stopped its course, || it might have answered his purpose perhaps; but then it had given a juster handle to the suggestions of those who would deny the whole merit of the miracle. For, if the retardation of the sun had not happened until it was going to set, Spinosa might, with a much better grace, have attributed the extraordinary length of this day to the refraction of its rays from the clouds, which at that time were loaded with hail; (Tract. Theol. Politic. c. 2.) or Peirerius, to some aurora borealis, or parhelion, which, after the setting of the sun, might appear about the territories of Gibeon, and so be mistaken for the sun's standing still; but now, by fixing it in its meridian point, all the cavils are effectually silenced; (Prædam. lib. 4. c. 6.) and God, no doubt, who heard him so readily, (Calmet's Disser. sur le Com

of courage upon these promises of God, and went out suddenly against the enemies; and after five days' march he came upon them, and joined battle with them; and there was a terrible fight, and such a number were slain, as could not be believed by those that heard it. He also went on the pursuit a great way; and destroyed the entire army of the enemies: few only escaped; and all the kings fell in the battle; insomuch that when there wanted men to be killed, Joshua slew their horses, and burnt their chariots, and passed all over their country without opposition; no one daring to meet him in battle; but he still went on, taking their cities by siege, and killing whatever he took.

The fifth year was now past;† and there was not one of the Canaanites remained any longer; excepting some that had retired to places of great strength. So Joshua removed his camp to the mountainous country, and placed the tabernacle in the city of Shiloh ; for that seemed a fit place for it, because of the beauty of its situation; until such times as their affairs would permit them to build a temple. And from thence he went to Shechem, together with all the people, and raised an altar where Moses had previously directed. Then did he divide the army, and placed one half of them on mount Gerizim, and the other half on mount Ebal; on which mountain the altar was; he also placed there the tribe of Levi, and the priests. And when they had sacrificed, and denounced the blessings and the curses, and had left them engraven upon the altar, they returned to Shiloh.

And now Joshua was old, and saw that the cities of the Canaanites were not easily to be taken; not

mandment, &c.) inspired the Hebrew general with that wish or prayer, which otherwise perhaps would never have come into his head. Keil's Astronomical Lectures.

Besides this general argument of Mr. Keil's, Mr. Whiston has one, which he accounts no less than a demonstration: "If the earth," says he, "have an annual revolution about the sun, it must affect the apparent motion of all the other planets and comets; and notwithstanding the regularity of their several motions in their own orbits, must render these regular motions, to us, as living upon the moving earth, sometimes direct, and that swiftly and slowly; sometimes stationary, and sometimes retrograde, and that swiftly or slowly also; and all this, at such certain periods, in such certain places, for such certain durations, and according to such certain circumstances, (as geometry and arithmetic will certainly determine,) and not otherwise. Now that this is the real case in fact, and that every one of these particulars are true in the astronomical world, all that are skilful in that science do freely confess, even those who do not think fit to declare openly for this annual revolution of the earth, which yet is the natural and certain consequence of that concession.' Whiston's Astron. Princ. of Relig. The reader that is desirous to know more both of the annual and diurnal motion of the earth, may consult Mr. Denham's Prelim. Diss. to his AstroTheol. B. † An. 1487.

*Josh. x. 15. Josh. xviii. 1.

only because they were situated in such strong places, but because of the strength of the walls themselves; which being built round about, the natural strength of the places on which the cities stood, seemed capable of repelling their enemies from besieging them. For when the Canaanites had learned, that the Israelites came out of Egypt, in order to destroy them, they were busy all that time in making their cities strong. So he gathered the people together at Shiloh; and when they, with great zeal and haste, were come thither, he observed to them, what prosperous successes they had already had, and what glorious things had been done; and those such as were worthy of that God who enabled them to do those things, and worthy of the virtue of those laws which they followed. He took notice also, that thirty-one of those kings that ventured to give them battle were overcome; and every army, how great soever it were, that confided in their power, and fought with them, was utterly destroyed; so that not so much as any of their posterity remained. And as for the cities, since some of them were taken, but the others must be taken in length of time by long sieges; both on account of the strength of their walls, and of the confidence the inhabitants had in them; he thought it reasonable that those tribes that came along with them from beyond Jordan, and had partaken of the dangers they had undergone, being their own kindred, should now be dismissed and sent home; and should have thanks for the pains they had taken together with them. As also he thought it reasonable, that they should send one man out of every tribe, and he such as had the testimony of extraordinary virtue, who should measure the land faithfully, and without any fallacy or deceit should inform them of its real magnitude. Now Joshua, when he had thus spoken, found that the multitude approved of his proposal. So he sent men to measure their country, and sent with them some geometricians, who could not easily fail of ascertaining the truth, on account of their skill in that art. He also gave them a charge to estimate the measure of that part of the land that was most fruitful, and what was not so good. For such is the nature of the land of Canaan, that one may see large plains, and such as are exceedingly fit to produce fruit, which, if they were compared with other parts of the country, might be reckoned exceeding fruitful; yet, in comparison with the fields about Jericho, and those that belong to Jerusalem, they will appear to be of no account at all. And although it happen, that these people have but very little

Josh. xii. 8-24.

† If I were writing to the learned, I must have made particular notes on this and the rest of Josephus's geography of Canaan;

of this sort of land, and that it is in general mountainous also, yet does it not come behind other parts on account of its exceeding goodness and beauty. For which reason, Joshua thought that the land for the tribes should be divided by estimation of its goodness, rather than its extent, it often happening that one acre of some sort of land was equivalent to a thousand other acres. Now the men that were sent, which were in number ten, travelled all about, and made an estimation of the land; and in the seventh month they returned to the city of Shiloh, where they had set up the tabernacle.

Joshua now took both Eleazar, and the senate, and with them the heads of the tribes, and distributed the land to the nine tribes, and to the half tribe of Manasseh; appointing the dimensions according to the largeness of each tribe. So when he had cast lots, Judah had assigned him by lot, the upper part of Judea, reaching as far as Jerusalem, and its breadth, extending to the lake of Sodom; and the lot of this tribe included the cities of Ascalon and Gaza. The lot of Simeon, which was the second, comprehended that part of Idumea which bordered upon Egypt and Arabia. As to the Benjamites, their lot fell so, that its length reached from the river Jordan to the sea; but in breadth, it was bounded by Jerusalem and Bethel; and this lot was the narrowest of all, by reason of the goodness of the land; for it included Jericho, and the city of Jerusalem. The tribe of Ephraim had the land that extended in length, from the river Jordan, to Gezer; but in breadth, as far as from Bethel to the great plain. The half tribe of Manasseh had the land from Jordan to the city of Dora; but its breadth was at Bethshan, which is now called Scythopolis. And after these was Issachar, which had its limits, in length, mount Carmel and the river; but its limit, in breadth, was mount Tabor. The tribe of Zabulon's lot included the land which lay as far as the lake of Gennesareth, and that which belonged to Carmel and the sea. The tribe of Aser had that part which was called The Valley, for such it was; and all that part that lay over against Sidon. The city Arce belonged to their share, which is also named Actipus. The Naphthalites received the eastern parts, as far as the city of Damascus, and the Upper Galilee, unto mount Libanus, and the fountains of Jordan, which arise out of that mountain: that is, out of that part of it, whose limits belong to the neighbouring city Arce. The Danites' lot included all that part of the valley which respects the sun-setting, and were bounded by Azotus and

but in this version it shall suffice to refer the English reader to my map of Palestine.

Dora; they also had all Jamnia and Gath, from Ekron to that mountain where the tribe of Judah begins.

After this manner did Joshua divide the six nations that bear the names of the sons of Canaan, with their land, to be possessed by the nine tribes and a half; for Moses had prevented him, and had already distributed the land of the Amorites, which was so called from one of the sons of Canaan, to the two tribes and a half, as we have showed already; but the parts about Sidon, as also those that belonged to the Arkites, the Amathites, and the Arabians, were not yet regularly disposed of.

But now Joshua was hindered by his age, from executing what he intended, and those who succeeded him in the government took little care of what was for the advantage of the public; so he gave it in charge to every tribe to leave none of the race of the Canaanites in the land that had been divided to them by lot; for, that Moses had assured them beforehand, and they might rest fully satisfied, that their own security, and their observance of their own laws, depended wholly upon it. He also enjoined them to give thirty-eight cities to the Levites, for they had already received ten in the country of the Amorites; and three of these he assigned to fugitive man-slayers, who were to inhabit there; for he was very solicitous that nothing should be neglected which Moses had ordained. These cities were, of the tribe of Judah, Hebron; of that of Ephraim, Shechem; and that of Naphthali, Cadesh, which is a place of the Upper Galilee. He also distributed among them the rest of the prey not yet distributed, which was very great, whereby they had an affluence of great riches, both all in general, and every one in particular; and this of gold, vestments, and other furniture, besides a multitude of cattle, whose number cannot be told.

After this, he gathered the army together, and spake thus to those tribes that had their settlement in the land of the Amorites beyond Jordan; for fifty thousand men of them had armed themselves, and had gone to the war along with them: "Since that God, who is the Father and Lord of the Hebrew nation, has now given us this land for a possession, and promised to preserve us in the enjoyment of it as our own for ever: and since you have with alacrity offered yourselves to assist us, whenever we wanted that assistance, according to his command; it is but just, now all our difficulties are over, that you should be permitted to enjoy rest, and that we should trespass on your alacrity to help us no longer; that so, if we should again stand in need of it, we may readily have it on any future emergency, and

*Josh. xxii. 1-6.

not tire you out so much now, as may make you slower in assisting us another time. We therefore return you thanks for the dangers you have undergone with us; and we do it not at this time only, but we shall always be disposed to remember our friends, and to preserve in mind what advantages we have had from them, and how you have put off the enjoyment of your own happiness for our sakes, and have laboured for what we have now, by the good-will of God, obtained; and resolved not to enjoy your own prosperity till you had afforded us that assistance. However, you have, by joining your labours with ours, gotten great plenty of riches, and will carry home with you much prey, with gold and silver, and, what is more than all these, our goodwill towards you, and a mind willingly disposed to make a requital of your kindness, in what case soever you shall desire it; for you have not omitted any thing which Moses previously required of you, nor have you despised him, because he was dead and gone from you, so that there is nothing to diminish that gratitude which we owe you. We therefore dismiss you joyful to your own inheritances, and entreat you to suppose that there is no limit to be set to the intimate relation that is between us; and that you will not imagine, that because this river is interposed between us, that you are of a different race from us, and not Hebrews; for we are all the posterity of Abraham, both we that inhabit here, and you that inhabit there; and it is the same God who brought our forefathers, and yours, into the world; whose worship and form of government we are to take care of, which he has ordained, and are most carefully to observe; because, while you continue in those laws, God will also show himself merciful and assisting to you; but if you imitate the other nations, and forsake those laws, he will reject your nation."* When Joshua had spoken thus, and had saluted them all, both those in authority, one by one, and the whole multitude in common, he himself stayed where he was; but the people conducted these tribes on their journey, and that not without tears in their eyes: and, indeed, they hardly knew how to part one from the other.

Now when the tribe of Reubel, and that of Gad, and as many of the Manassites as followed them, were passed over the river, they built an altar† on the banks of Jordan, as a monument to posterity, and as a sign of their relation to those that should inhabit on the other side. But when those on the other side heard that those who had been dismissed had built an altar, but did not hear with what intention they built it, but supposed it to be by way of innovation, and for the introduction of

Josh. xxii. 10.